506 THE COMMON HERRING. 



fishes, like migi*atory birds, always resort in the breed- 

 ing season to the place of their birth. This, however, can 

 hardly be the case, there being abundant evidence to 

 prove that even without assignable cause they frequently 

 shift their quarters, and for a very lengthened period, 

 as I shall hereafter have occasion to show, betake 

 themselves elsewhere. 



The Herring, as regards the Scandinavian seas, breeds 

 at very different seasons. On one part of the coast it 

 spawns, we are told, in May and June, on another about 

 midsummer, on a third in the autumn, say September 

 and October, and on a fourth at mid-Aviuter. It is said 

 that when the Norwegian fisherman expects the arrival 

 of these fish he mounts a lofty eminence and keeps a 

 sharp look-out seawards ; he is thus enabled, even when 

 at many miles' distance, to discern the approach of the 

 Sill-jlotta, or herring-fleet, as it is called. This is always 

 followed by hvindreds of whales, which spout water, in 

 the form of steam, high up in the air, so that, according 

 to these men, " liafsytan star som en tdga" the meaning 

 of which is that a curtain or wall of mist bounds the 

 horizon. Others again liken the scene to a vast number 

 of smoking chimneys. When the shoal has approached 

 pretty near the coast, the whales form a half-circle beyond 

 them, and swim to and fro. The herrings then separate, 

 and proceed within the islands of the Skargfird, at which 

 time they stand closely packed together from the surface 

 of the sea to the very bottom ; and after the spawning 

 is over the water is actvially discoloured with the milt 

 from the males. 



Pormerly the Swedish herring fisheries were the 

 largest and most productive in Europe, but at the 

 present day, owing to the fish having in great measure 

 deserted the coast, they have dwindled into compara- 

 tive insio'iiificance. 



